Hubert Lawrence: Can’t overlook outside contenders

Last week, a reader zapped me for not mentioning little speed ball Kiara Grant as one of those who will keep Jamaica at the forefront of women’s sprinting in the future. Then, as if to fortify the point, Grant herself checked in with the fastest indoor 60m time by a Jamaican this year – 7.20 seconds. For the record, last week’s list was not meant to be exhaustive but in a way, the objection adds to the bright view of big meets to come.

The reader rightly indicated that the former Convent of Mercy Academy (Alpha) student-athlete has made notable progress since she left early for Norfolk State University.

Her personal best of 11.04 seconds in the 100m, at last year’s NCAA Championships, really does put the 19-year-old in line for a shot at a place on the 2020 Jamaican Olympic team.

The great thing is that Grant isn’t the only one who was unmentioned last week who is in with a chance. Last year marked a return for Natasha Morrison, the 2015 World Athletics Championship 100m finalist. Morrison ran 10.96 seconds to reach that final and after changing coaches twice, has settled at Sprintec Track Club. She was in the Pan-American Games final won by Elaine Thompson last July, and anchored Jamaica to victory in the heats of the 4x100m at the Doha World Championships in October.

In 2015, when she was a member of the MVP Track Club, she harried world champions Allyson Felix and Dafne Schippers on the second leg and seemed perfectly at home in a team bedecked with Veronica Campbell-Brown, Thompson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. If her collaboration with Sprintec head coach Maurice Wilson bears more fruit, that personal best might not see its fifth birthday.

Morrison, 27, and Grant have something in common – 200m personal bests slower than 23 seconds. Improvements there may signal an acceleration of their fortunes in the 100m.

Rich depth

It’s good to be rich with such depth. Many countries would love to have Fraser-Pryce and Thompson alone. Jamaica has so much more.

Ten Jamaicans clocked 11.20 seconds or faster last year and that do not include 2016 Olympic 100m metre finalist Christiania Williams, or 2018 World Indoor Tour 60m winner Gayon Evans. Williams and Evans were second and third to Michelle-Lee Ahye in the 100m at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Williams, who has a personal best of 10.95 seconds, is now training overseas. If fit, she will be a strong contender.

The 2020 National Senior Championships, which also serve as the Olympic Trials, are months away in June and after two tries at it, this space has probably listed a good portion of the likely protagonists. However, the Trials might throw up a fast outsider. If I had to guess, I’d reserve that role for 2013 4x100m World Championship gold medallist Schillonie Calvert-Powell. At her best, she covered the 100m stretch in 10.94 seconds.

That was three years ago and she seemed to struggle in the 200m heats at the Pan-American Games last year. Still, discretion is advised. At 31, Calvert-Powell could be viewing 2020 as go time. So could Jura Levy, who has won medals as part of the 4x100m from as far back as 2011. At this distance from the Trials, it’s unwise to write people off.

I won’t do that. Instead, I’m walking into the sunshine, rich with the prospect not only of happy outcomes in women’s sprinting at the Olympics, but for years and at Championships to come. It’s an enviable position.

Hubert Lawrence has scrutinised local and international track and field since 1980.